Dark Carnival - 1/5: Highway
The Highway is the first chapter in Left 4 Dead 2's, Dark Carnival campaign. It was first revealed at the Penny Arcade Expo and again in Tokyo Game Show '09. Strategy Campaign The Survivors begin at the race car from the last campaign, since the survivors can't go any further due to the abandoned cars along the highway. Survivors will travel through the cars, finding supplies along the way. Eventually, you will reach a highway off-ramp, make your way down. When the survivors reach a curb under a bridge, an army hummer is parked next to ammo and weapons. As you go under the bridge turn right and go up to the billboard, however a faster way is to head left up the incline between the two overpasses and following the bridge to the billboard. If you get on the billboard there is always a hunting rifle. Now, you will encounter a motel. Be on the look out as there is usually an shotgun on the roof of the motel. Survivors can find very useful supplies like a Laser sight, weapons, explosives, etc. The parking lot has an alarmed car and pool. The rooms hold more weapons. Going up the side of the motel will take you onto the overpass, and using a billboard as a bridge, allows access to the roof. Once on the balcony, make your way down to the part with a destroyed section. Don't try to jump it, as you will simply fall down and have to come back up. Instead, go through the door of the room next to it. Go through the broken wall into the next room and continue until you reach an open window. Jump through it, continue down the balcony, down the stairs and you're out. Next, make your way round the back of the motel, following the stone path. You will reach a large gully, and going down will result in a long sliding fall. Don't worry, it won't damage you too much, but be careful to look before you leap, as several ledges along the slope often contain useful items such as pills/adrenaline and pipe bombs/molotovs, or bad things like Witches. It should be noted that the gully is a "point of no return." Keep in mind that Smokers, Hunters, and anything else that can "hold" Survivors can easily kill someone if the rest of their teammates have already gone down and they are still up on the cliff, so be sure to stick together. Once you reach the bottom of the hill, you'll have to wade your way down a river of muddy water to reach the hill leading up to Whispering Oaks. Be careful, as the water slows you down considerably. If you have to deal with a horde, there's a rock at the bottom of the gully that was overlooked when programming so Infected will stop chasing you when you're on it. Keep going to the hill up ahead. Once you reach the top of the hill, watch out, as this is one of the director's favourite places to spawn tanks, witches and alarmed cars. Head for the saferoom in the trailer up ahead, and be ready to enter Whispering Oaks Amusement Park. Survival Bedroom Method: This requires a Combat Rifle and a melee weapon. A pipe-bomb is advised as well. Grab your supplies and head upstairs. Now go to the furthest room, it should have a katana, a first aid kit, a defibrillator and a Molotov. Using the defibrillator, take an extra first aid kit or some special ammo upstairs. Start. In this room, you have a good amount of supplies. Smokers can't get you, the horde is delayed, you have plenty of room to maneuver, and Chargers are almost useless. Jockeys are the biggest threat, as they can take you to the bottom floor. When the Tank comes, leave the room and take him down. When the second Tank comes, throw the pipe-bomb. Then take him down. Now pick whatever explosive you like and hold out. The Combat Rifle is required to take out Jockeys and Tanks from range, and the melee is used to: A. get you to the room and B. Help when you need to leave when Tanks arrive. Notes *This chapter starts out on a highway littered with cars, similar to Death Toll. *It is possible to escape the survival that takes place in the Motel and go to the safe room and close the door *The Uncommon Common Infected, the Clown Infected, will not spawn on this chapter, since it is not in the carnival. *Jimmy Gibbs Jr.'s racecar from the last two campaigns(Dead Center,The Passing) appears at the start of the level, however it is rather beat-up with blood stains and dents, possibly from driving through Infected and obstacles such as building debris and torn up vehicles, especially how they show how the survivors escape by breaking a wall with the car. It could also be caused by the events in The Passing. *This is a very common level for a Witch to spawn, but it is very rare for one to spawn in the safe room. *On the billboard is a picture of Lil' Peanut, of which players shoot at impulsively. This area is also a popular place for Infected players to begin spawn mode. *This chapter is featured in Scavenge mode and is named The Motel because the level only includes the motel part of the chapter. *The Motel is also used in Survival. *Sometimes the Witch can spawn on the hill behind The Motel and when she is startled she will slide down the hill and climb up the cliff face. *When looking at the road behind the Survivors and Jimmy Gibbs Jr.'s racecar, you can see that there is a fence raised up. It is odd how the fence got there, assuming that was the direction the Survivors came from. *The Motel is also seen in the Zombie Survival Guide Trailer. The difference is that there are no zombies in the area and Coach has to break open the door to the reception which is not obstructed at all. *Let it also be noted that in the Zombie Survival Guide Trailer, when Coach does break the door open, it seems to be daylight. The next scene also seems to be in a sunlit room. *During Survival it is possible to stockpile all the weaponry on the map. Using the laser sights keep adding them to all the weapons you find and they won't respawn in their starting points. Then gun juggle (rapidly tap the use key) the weapons into a hotel room. This is a great way to defend a room for if you run out of ammo you can pick up a new gun from the ground.( It's advised to do this with extra people for it takes time to stockpile everything, also communicating with your partners will keep them from calling the horde too early) *A Hunting Rifle' ''always '''spawns on the billboard overlooking the motel. Perhaps this is here for an assassination attempt, or other reasons, as speculated by fans. *In Campaign and Versus modes there are Tier 1 weapons behind the racecar, but in Scavenge mode, if you go to the racecar as an Infected, there will be Tier 2 weapons (Combat Shotgun and Combat Rifle).(Which you use for last man on earth.) *There is a shortcut in the level that is used commonly by players. It is located on the overhead before the off ramp to the parked jeep with ammo. The shortcut is at the spot were a tipped over truck and a bus have crashed into each other. How this works is that the players simply jump on the bumper of the bus that is still upright and then jump to the tipped over truck. This leads to the road by the billboard, allowing players to skip a short section of the map. Video instructions here *It's unknown why there's a lantern next to the car in the starting point, as it's unlikely for the lantern to be already with the Survivors. *In this map, you can encounter up to two car alarms: The first one is possible to be in the Motel and the second one will always be the last car near the saferoom at the end. *Use caution when approaching the top of the hill after treading through the swamp in this level, the hill top is a common spawn spot for the Tank in campaign mode. Category:Chapters Category:Dark Carnival Category:Article stubs Category:Left 4 Dead 2